Heroes of our time. Dr. Strande – Supreme Magician of the Earth
Tony Stark Iron armor, spider abilities of Peter Parker, Superlane Captain America – most of the inhuman abilities of heroes Marvel The authors are trying to explain by scientific terms. Here you have endless experiments with radiation, and flirting with molecular biology, and, of course, the invention of previously unprecedented nanotechnologies. Yes, all this to some extent brings together fictional heroes and the real world. But in 1963, the artist Steve Ditko decided to send a pseudonaucu to hell and introduced a powerful magician – Dr. Strandje to the court of Stan Lee.
In Marvel comics, Strange was by no means the first character with magical abilities, but it was he who was destined to represent the magical world in their universe. To create this character, Steve Ditko inspired Chandu The Magician – The once popular radio series about a powerful wizard.
Dr. Stefan Strandge differed little from this Chanu himself: also a good bright magician struggling with dark magic. This was the initial Sinopsis of the comic book Strange. Negmed, agree. Stan Lee understood this perfectly, but still decided to give a magician a chance.
As a result, what turned out to be the journey of Dr. Strange in the world of comics, surprised the publishers themselves.
► In October last year, a new film about Dr. Strange was released. Read more about the film – on the virtual pages of the "World of Fantasy".
In the world of people
Stefan Vincent Strange, for friends just Steve, a native of Philadelphia, was born in 1930. A beautiful, smart and talented little boy, who, for whatever he took up, was easy. But, apparently, fate decided to explain to Stefan that life is far from sugar.
When Steve was 11 years old, his sister Donna received a serious injury, and the boy took care of a younger relative. At this moment, he discovered for himself that he should become a doctor and save everyone who needs help. Then the romance has not yet left the heart of a little Strandge. He entered the medical college, but in the same year Donna drowned, and Steve simply did not have time to save her.
This was the first of a series of deaths that changed Strandge.
Stefan graduated from Colombian University and after five years later he became a doctor respected in medical circles, and soon one of the best neurosurges in New York. Such success could not help but turn his head. Stefan Stange succumbed to narcissism, became self -confident, thought that now he certainly was possible. The death of his mother – and she died literally on the threshold of his office – knocked out of him. Death laughed again at Strande: he was so close, but still could not save his own person. After this incident, Stefan realized that no matter what a great doctor he was, still not in his power to save everyone.
► Stefan Stange became a brilliant neurosurgeon, but even after that he strove for more, for something incredible.
Father Strangja went after his mother. Steve was depressed, did not want to put up with reality, did not want to see his father dead. As a result, he refused to attend the funeral. This was the reason for his quarrel with his brother Victor, his only remaining relative. The conflict resulted in the fact that Victor in anger at his selfish brother, who did not want to hear anything, ran out of the house, fell under the car and died.
Stefan was mad and decided that he would never put Victor in the coffin. He took the body and froze it in a cryogenic chamber. At that moment he was sure that he would definitely find a way to revive his brother. It became the goal of his life.
► The Oath of Hyppocrat, Stnja performed even becoming a supreme magician.
In search of yourself
Cute and good -natured boy Steve threw out pink glasses and became arrogant cynic Stefan Strande. Impudent and rude, he rudely treated both patients and colleagues. Women liked him, but none of them could come to terms with his character. He had no friends or family, only work. At thirty -three, he lost her.
Strange got into a terrible car accident, doctors fought for his life until the last. They managed to save Stefan, but his nerve endings were seriously damaged, and his hands simply did not obey. Over time, the consequences of the accident were minimized, but the road to surgery for Strandge was closed. Stefan was too proud to “sink”, in his opinion, to the post of consultant in the clinic.
Once he simply collected things and went in search of a doctor who could return his previous opportunities. But no one could give the desired. To earn at least some money, Strange began to carry out illegal operations, and one of the clients told him about the Chinese sage, a wizard living in Tibet. The doctor reacted to this skeptical, but curiosity prevailed, besides deep down, Strandge probably hoped for a miracle.
► Feminization does not spare even Tibetan elders. In the film adaptation, the role of the oldest is played by Tilda Swinton.
"The oldest" – this is how Strange Acted the Tibetan sage. He flatly refused to treat, but in return offered to learn magic. From such an impudent quackery, Strandge became furious and decided to immediately leave the oldest house, but the snow storm began. By a happy chance at night, Strange saw how one of the students of the oldest – Baron Mordo – uses black magic to kill the teacher. Strange wanted to warn the old man, but was captured by Mordo. As a result, he witnessed the fight of two magicians and could not believe his eyes, because what these people did was behind the facet of reality. Laws that previously formed for him with an indestructible pillar of reality scattered sand.
The oldest prevailed, Baron Mordo fled. The sage told Stefan that he had been waiting for his appearance for a long time, because the Strandje fate was prepared to become a great magician. Strande must definitely remember that student, baron Mordo, because in the future they will have to encounter more than once. The oldest again asked: “Are you ready to believe in magic and give magic your life?»This time Strandge agreed.
► Baron Mordo, along with Dormamm Demon, became one of Dr. Strange's sworn enemies.
In captivity of illusions
Years later, Dr. Strandge learning the basics of magic: a little more, and it seemed he would surpass the master. He learned to use his magical forces (as it turned out, he possessed them from birth): access to astral, telekinesis, management of internal energy flows that can be used both as protective forces and as weapons.
The new magical abilities were given to him by powerful creatures from other worlds – principalities. Not every of these existence is friendly: for example, a dormamm is a demon, which constantly has to be tamed. Fights with him could have been fatal more than once ..
By the way, about death. The final stage of Strange's training was a trip to the parallel world and the battle with the bonfire itself. Dr. Strande, of course, won, thereby earned relative immortality: he does not age, is not subject to disease, but he can be killed, like any other person.
► Without his artifacts and spells, Strandge is the same ordinary person who can be killed.
Dr. Strangja's travels on other worlds have always been considered the main highlight of comics about the mighty magician. Steve Ditko every time, creating a new world for Strandge, managed to hit the reader with vivid images and inventive surrealism of what was happening.
He was so creatively approaching the image of a new universe that both readers and publishers themselves seriously thought about whether the artist was accepting any drugs. A world where living water gives rise to fire; a planet turned inside out or consisting of glass overflowing with paints; creatures, which are a whole cosmos. The psychedelic pictures of the worlds of "Dr. Strange" attracted the attention of young people in the 1960s and 70s.
The themes of eastern mysticism were added even more acuity. Mike Benton's comic book history researcher wrote that the “Stories of Dr. Strange” created a whole, live cosmology that can surprise even theosophe. Young students with a living mind absorbed this psychedelic experience and eastern mysticism and found parallels with the teachings of the Krishnas, Egyptian myths, Sumerian gods and even archetypes of Jung in comics ”.
Dr. Strange became a rare case when a hero, who initially seemed non-original and universal, shot so soon and so much that almost lay down the foundation of the reception of the late 1960s, when American https://amazon-slots-casino.co.uk/ youth was firmly fond of eastern culture, mythology and its inherent surrealism.
► Comic artists often changed, but everyone in their own way tried to preserve the style of the original.
Souvenirs from other worlds
Dr. Strange is a powerful magician and a wizard, but most of his forces come from ancient artifacts from parallel measurements. They have become an integral part of his image, almost no doctor’s adventure can do without a magic thing. During his life, he accumulated more than fifty magic books, amulets, magic balls, hats, mantles, rings and God knows what other trousers. Naturally, all these treasures do not ignore the other heroes and villains Marvel. There are not enough fingers to count how many times the enemies of Strandge tried to steal his values.
Once, in the battle with the alien arton, Stefan even had to destroy the artifacts so that they would not fall into the clutches of the villain, as a result of which the magic barrier preserved by these objects was destroyed, and demons previously vanquished by Strap invaded our world. But everything ended well as always, even magic souvenirs, to the joy of Strangge, managed to restore.
Let's take a closer look at the most important artifacts for Strandge: he almost always wears them behind the bosom.
Levitation mantle
The famous cloak, without which Dr. Strange, would already be difficult to find out. Strande's mantle received from his mentor the oldest. She was a symbol of true recognition, a symbol of the supreme magician and gave a lot of useful abilities: levitation (you probably already guessed) and protection capable of withstanding almost a missile volley.
In addition, at the request of the owner, the mantle could change the form and even tie the enemies. This artifact was transmitted from teacher to student. There was a time when Strande himself handed it to his successor – the wizard Dr. Voodoo. There are several such mantles in the universe, and if desired, Strange could always find a replacement.
Eye Agamo
The legend says that the third eye of the first supreme magician of the Earth Agamato is placed in this amulet. It hides most of the power of the legendary wizard. Anyone who has captured an amulet is able to open portals into other worlds, penetrate the consciousness of other creatures and draw energy to strengthen their own magical abilities.
Dr. Strande received an Eye of Agamato from the hands of eternity – a mystical creature, which is all the time and the space of the universe. With the help of Oka, Strandge was supposed to fight the demon Dormamm, who has been trying to destroy the earth for centuries for centuries. Later, Strange found out that he was far from the first and far from the last owner of the artifact. The Eye of Agamatto has always been looking for and will look for someone who will protect the world from the mouth of the demon, and this war will be endless.
Visanti's book
Book of spells written by Babylon magicians. On an endless number of pages, the reader will find spells only white magic, because Visanti’s book was created as a response to the Code of Dark Magic Darkhold. Visanti's book spells cannot become a weapon – only protection.
For a long time, this book was secretly stored by the oldest, and only fully trusted Strandge, the teacher handed it to the student. With the help of Visanti's book spells, the doctor saved his friends more than once. It was in this book that Stefan was looking for a spell that could return his brother Victor to life. Once it seemed to him that he found a suitable one, but something went wrong: Victor returned to life not a man, but a vampire. Strange could not save his brother and lost his connection with him when Victor finally went over to the side of evil, forgot his past and took the name “Hiron”.
In the world of heroes
After many years of teaching magic in the mountains of Tibet and other dimensions, Dr. Strande returned home. He did not declare himself a hero, but promised the people that he would protect everyone from dark magic. While Captain America and Iron Man struggled with criminals and enemies of society, Dr. Strande opposed demons, curses, conspirators and evil sorcerers. He did not hide under the mask – on the contrary, maintained relations with the people, and people of high ranks often came to him for help, and the government made him an official adviser.
However, with other superheroes, Strange rarely intersected, at least at first. There was no need for this, his advisers and assistants were powerful principalities, he was available to the wisdom of centuries set forth in magic folios, and Stefan was quite enough.
The rest of America Strande seemed … strange. A curiosity that is unable to explain. It is understandable, magic outside of logic, outside the laws of nature, and therefore is uncontrollable and dangerous. And Dr. Strandge is really very dangerous: even Dormamm admitted that Strandge is worse than any demon and is able to destroy the earth himself if he wants.
► From Tibet, Strange brought with him not only knowledge of magic, but also a faithful assistant Vong.
Nevertheless, you can't run away from crossovers, it's still Marvel. Dr. Strandge eventually joined the general company: it is necessary to help the Torah to enlarge the evil brother, then to pull out Spider-Man from another dimension, then to pacify the raging Hulk-there were always enough things. In addition, the villains did not think to stop trying to harm the world, on the contrary, they became more and more. To confront the onslaught, Dr. Strange united with the king of the underwater world Nemor, as well as with a holk and a silver surfer. The four of them created a team of “defenders” to protect the planet from extraterrestrial invaders.
This small team has existed for a long time, but, interestingly, Dr. Strange was not limited to one company. At the same time, he became a member of the Illuminati Organization, which included Professor Xavier, Mr. Fantastic, a black thunder and an iron man. The best minds of the Earth gathered in one team.
Illuminati had to solve issues of paramount importance together. Their first meeting took place when a large-scale attack of the Square Aliens fell on the planet. Another time, the Illuminati decided the fate of the Hulk, when he seemed to completely lose control of himself and destroyed several cities at once. The general decision was to deceive the Hulk into space, away from the ground. They succeeded, but the consequences were deplorable: Hulk returned with thoughts about revenge. In the heat of the battle with Hulk Strandge, he suffered greatly, especially his hands. Thanks to dark magic, Strange managed to recover, but the battle was lost.
► Dr. Strandge often had to fight a Hulk. So far, the account is equal.
At one of the meetings of the Illuminati, Tony Stark presented everyone with his act of registration of superheroes, from which the famous civil war began. Strange in this war was one of the few who preferred to maintain neutrality.
He openly told Stark that his act was only a vile attempt to instill in others, and he revered the actions of the nasty side stupid and to some extent crazy. Dr. Strandge perfectly understood that this confrontation would not end in anything good. The title of the Supreme Magician of the Earth suggested the protection of mankind, and not participation in the squabbles of superheroes. Therefore, Strande spent almost the entire civil war in meditation at the South Pole.
Three comics about Dr. Strande, who should read
The Origin of a Doctor Strange (Strange Tales No. 115, 1963)
The very story of the beginning of the path of Stefan Strange, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. From a selfish neurosurgeon to a devoted student of the magician – a plot, which is rightfully considered one of the most successful stories of the formation of a hero. And this is the same drawing of Steve Ditko, who gives the comic a special mystical charm.
Doctor strange: the oath (No. 1 – 5, 2006)
A comic book about how Dr. Strange in search of a medicine for his faithful assistant Wong finds something more than just healing. Strandja's personal goals – against the general good. The Oath will show the differences between the human nature of Stefan and the magical essence of Strange, and will also open a couple of entertaining details of the Stenji formation process as a great magician.
Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment (1989)
One of the best stories about Dr. Strange, oddly enough about how the supreme magician had to unite with a terrible villain. Dr. Duma asks Strandge help in salvation of the soul of the mother, who came to the demon Mephisto. Of course, everything turns out to be much more complicated.
This comic book has a fascinating plot and several unexpected turns, as well as the final showing that the hero and the villain sometimes go one way, especially if magic is involved in the case.
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Dr. Strande is part of our world, one of the most powerful creatures on Earth and the main defender of mankind from mystical evil. But at the same time, he exists in many other worlds, he absorbs every universe, where he once visited. Strange sees life much wider than his associates and friends. Perhaps that is why he often seems alien among people and among heroes.
